258 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



of the Goldcrest between forking branches. The 

 Birds of Paradise (Paradiseidae), so far as is 

 known, make open cup-shaped nests of sticks, 

 twigs, dead leaves, moss, fibres, and grass, 

 placing them in bushes and trees. The Honey- 

 eaters (Meliphagidae) and the White-eyes 

 (Zosteropidae) have a habit of slinging their 

 cup-shaped nests between forks, weaving the rim 

 round them, and are somewhat exceptional in 

 providing a lining of vegetable down or feathers. 

 The nests of the beautiful Sun-Birds (Nectarin- 

 iidae) are of a very interesting type, domed and 

 pear-shaped in form, often with a porched 

 entrance, and suspended from slender branches 

 or the under surfaces of big leaves. They are 

 very neatly made of grasses, moss, fibres, and 

 roots, and lined with hair, feathers, and vegetable 

 down, being partly attached to the supporting 

 stem or leaf by spiders' webs. Lichens, cocoons, 

 scraps of bark, or even bits of paper are often 

 added by way of garniture and to render them 

 in harmony with surrounding objects, the better 

 to conceal them. Some of the Flower-peckers 

 (Dicaeidae) make very similar structures. The 

 Sugar Birds (Ccerebidae) build domed nests of 

 dry grass, roots, fibres, feathers, and the like, 

 some of them also having a projecting porch. 



